On Sunshine Week, those hoping for access to information about public employees entrusted to care for children and the elderly may find government's window shades drawn.

News media organizations and others across the country have declared this week a time to underscore the need for 'sunshine laws,' an informal term describing the framework of public information and open meetings rules that gives citizens an opportunity to evaluate government. Forty years after the federal Freedom of Information Act became law, ... the need to shed light on the performance of public officials and the spending of the public dollar has never been greater. ...

The public wants to trust officials who must deal with personnel matters. Many citizens also want to be able to verify that public employees are worthy of that trust. To make Freedom of Information more than a slogan, the Legislature should act to bring the public's business into the light of day.

On the Net:

http://www.mlive.com/aanews/March 12

Chicago Tribune, on keeping teen drivers alive:

... Every year, car wrecks take more teenagers than any other cause of death. Why does this persist? Cars are safer. Seat belts and airbags save lives. The dangers of drinking and driving have been drummed into the national consciousness. Everyone knows that excessive speed kills.

But with all that, so many teens die. Teens die because they're young and they lack judgment. They die because they're inexperienced at the wheel, filled with a giddy sense of invulnerability. They die because they take risks that older drivers won't.

... Here's one way to save lives: increase the training time behind the wheel. By law, parents are supposed to log 25 hours supervising a neophyte driver. The teen is required to document every minute and the parent is required to confirm that time behind the wheel. ...

There's strong evidence that the more experience a teen can get before receiving his or her license, the better. Driving experience may be more important than the age of the driver in preventing accidents. The statistics show that driving accidents peak in the first 250 miles that a new driver is on the road after getting a license. In a 2003 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the crash rate for new drivers dropped by nearly half after the first 250 miles and continued to fall during the first 1,000 miles.

We hope that all parents take those training requirements seriously. Supervising a neophyte driver can be harrowing, but it is one of the most important things a parent can do. ...